COVID Cases Are Up, but New Data Offer Evidence on How to Keep Patients Out of the Hospital

As with all things related to COVID-19, early efforts to treat patients sufficiently to avoid hospitalization had the appearance of throwing the proverbial spaghetti at the wall to see what stuck. Over time, data started to illuminate which approaches offered the most promise. Now, with multiple states tracking a gradual uptick in both positive cases and hospitalizations as fall approaches, new research published in Reviews in Medical Virology supplements existing data showing that nirmatrelvir-ritonavir (Paxlovid) “dramatically” reduces hospitalizations (OR, 0.46; 95% CI, 0.32-0.66; P< .0001) and death or hospitalization (OR, 0.44; 95% CI, 0.33-0.60; P<.00001) among patients diagnosed with COVID-19. Drawn from a meta-analysis of 42 studies, the research also shows that ED visits, ICU admissions, and the need for extra oxygen were also reduced in patients treated with nirmatrelvir-ritonavir. With the virus continuing to evolve, it’s important to note that a risk assessment released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently suggests that currently available tests and medications are expected to continue to be effective.